HOW TO JOIN
How to apply to join The Climbers’ Club - an overview.
The club welcomes applications for membership from enthusiastic, experienced and competent leaders of adventurous ‘Trad’ climbs who wish to participate in the activities of the club. There are no secret membership criteria; it doesn’t matter which school you went to or what job you do, nor is there any limit on the total number of members, all that matters are your climbing experience and desire to participate in the club.
Membership is open to all regardless of sex, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, religion or other beliefs. The important things are your climbing experience and competence.
You need to have had some contact with the club before applying, either by attending meets or staying at our huts and we expect you will have climbed with some of its existing members. You may already know a member which will make this easier but we offer introductory Prospective (Aspirant) Members' meets for climbers who don't know any current members, places on these meets are in high demand and are booked through the Meets Secretary select 'Joining a Meet' in the Contact Us webform.
Attendance at three such meets is required for such potential members to obtain proposer and second so that they may sample some of the life of the club and meet more members: this latter point is crucial as we rely on two members to confirm that each potential member has the experience and competence we expect. Our regulations for entry into the club require attendance at three meets before considering an application from somebody who has not climbed with existing CC members.
When reviewing an application we will look at the breadth and depth of each applicant's experience and the contact they have had with the club. By breadth we mean the range of climbing areas visited and by depth we mean the number of adventurous routes the applicant has led or shared the lead on. We view adventurous climbs as traditionally protected routes with a combination of other factors beyond technical difficulty: eg length, difficult location, variable rock quality, challenging route finding or committing climbing, leading routes like these demands a much wider skill-set than the technical ability to 'do the move'. Please note that there is no required minimum lead grade, just tell us what you have done!
You are advised to read our Information for Applicants page before starting an application.
Cost of membership
The annual subscription for the calendar year 2025 will be:
- £82 for ordinary members
- £44 for members under 25 years
Members elected after 30 June pay half the annual subscription for that year.